The NBA draft can be an eye-opening event. In 2005, it was just that for college basketball coaches.

When Utah center Andrew Bogut stepped to the podium to shake commissioner David Stern’s hand as the No. 1 pick, college coaches across the country took notice, dusted off their passports and began punching plane tickets to Bogut’s homeland — Australia.

That was then. Now, Vanderbilt’s Andrew Ogilvy and Saint Mary’s Patrick Mills have rekindled the flames. Australia is once again the “it” country for basketball talent, and college coaches are mining the continent for all it has.

“Ten years ago was when colleges probably first started to look here,” said Martin Clarke, Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) men’s basketball coach. “But it’s increased unbelievably in the last five years.”

The University of Colorado has joined the fray, having landed Australian Nate Tomlinson, a heady point guard about whom coach Jeff Bzdelik raves, for next season. The Buffaloes are also in the mix for another Australian player for the class of 2009.

But Bzdelik said he will be judicious with his time recruiting in Australia.

“Like in anything else, you have to be smart,” he said. “You don’t want to spin your wheels. You can’t just be flying over there just to fly over there and have no chance at the kid.”

According to NCAA statistics, there were 33 Division I basketball players from Australia last season. Aussiehoopsamerica.com projects that number will be 25 for next season.

Many of those schools are searching for the next Bogut, whose averages of 20.4 points per game, 12.2 rebounds and 26 double-doubles led Utah to a 29-6 record and the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in 2004-05.

Last season, Mills’ team-leading 14.8 points per game — as a freshman — led Saint Mary’s to 25 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2005.

Ogilvy, also a freshman last season, ranked second on the team with 17 points per game, helping Vanderbilt reach the NCAA Tournament and doing it in high-profile fashion in the rough-and-tumble Southeastern Conference.

The common thread among those three is they all prepped at the renowned AIS, which takes athletes for two-year stints and focuses on development on and off the court. Scholarships are awarded to some of Australia’s top players, and only 14 in any one year are in the program, which churns out some of the region’s best talent.

U.S. a coveted destination

Saint Mary’s has had a long-standing relationship with players and coaches on the continent and had four scholarship players last season from Australia. The Gaels will add another next season, which will make seven Australian players in the last decade for their program.

Because of the relative low number of available players — Australia’s total population is just 20 million — colleges have to be more meticulous in their scouting and cautious with how they use travel resources. But for Aussie players, coming to the United States to play has been an ideal situation to get a college education and tougher basketball competition at the same time.

“A big reason for it is the lack of opportunities in the past to play at the highest level in Australia at a young age,” former University of Denver standout Adam Tanner wrote in an e-mail from Australia. “Most kids around the age of 18 don’t have the chance to play with a pro (NBL — National Basketball League) team back home, and they don’t have any leagues that can push them enough at that age, so they see the chance at coming to the U.S. right up their alley.

“We don’t have universities that play basketball at this elite level and let you get a free education at the same time.”

Tanner, born in Melbourne, played two seasons with DU and graduated after last season. He went back in Australia, where he signed a two-year contract to play professionally for the since-defunct Brisbane Bullets of the NBL.

He said Australians playing at U.S. colleges can only help develop better players.

“I think that it is fantastic for the future of basketball in Australia,” Tanner wrote. “Kids in Australia play for club teams, which may only practice two times a week. If players come to college and see what it really takes to be a good basketball player, our nation will start to become better on the world scene and develop the work ethic needed to be at the elite level that the U.S. is on.”

Going internationally

The women’s game has been ahead of the curve in importing Australian players. On the Front Range, Colorado State, Wyoming and Northern Colorado have Australian players on their rosters for the upcoming season.

Wyoming, under coach Joe Legerski, who has recruited internationally since the early 1990s, has four Australians on its team and just graduated one, Hanna Zavecz, who was an all-MWC selection and conference defensive player of the year. Zavecz led Wyoming to its first NCAA Tournament berth this past season.

“Two of our better players last year, one was from Australia and one was from Poland,” Legerski said. “It really gave us an opportunity to compete at the highest levels.”

Arizona associate head coach Mike Dunlap brought Australian players to Denver when he was head coach at Metro State from 1997-2006. One, Mark Worthington, helped Metro State win a national title in 2002, and was named NABC Division II player of the year in 2005.

Dunlap has coached in Australia in some capacity since 1981. He coached the NBL’s Adelaide 36ers for three seasons. He warns against too many colleges going down to get players, however.

“We’re close to it,” Dunlap said. “It’s a small population. And the thing that happened was the rush came with the Andrew Boguts of the world. But it’s not as easy as picking fruit off a tree. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Added Clarke: “I think the misconception is there’s like a hundred Andrew Boguts and Pat Mills running around. There’s just not. They were extraordinary players for us. But there are good players, a lot of good players, just not a lot of those elite-level players. I think everyone that comes down here is looking to find the next one of them. And that’s not always the case.”

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.

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